Hi George!
It seems such a short time since I published a post to you on your 107th birthday last July 3rd. I am delighted to still be around to write a post to celebrate your 108th !
I was reading the other day about a United States veteran who was 107 and I immediately thought of you and wished you could be here as this man still is. He looked ok for his age and I am SURE you would have been a very handsome 107. Sigh… miss you!
I have become a member of the American Film Institute in your honour. AFI website has a lot of information on the production of American films and I am busily compiling a file with that information about all your American films. I have checked the British Film Institute website seeking information about your British films but find no information there comparable to that found at AFI.

Yesterday I was re-reading your biography, “Memoirs of a Professional Cad” which you published in 1960 and I was struck by the way you casually denigrate yourself, such as on page 34 when you write “I never really thought I would make the grade. And let’s face I, I haven’t”. This from a man who won an Academy Award for his performance in “All About Eve”! You were wonderful in all your films, even those you did not care about such as The Saint films. You were an excellent actor! It saddens me that you were so insecure.

I have often wondered, George, how you, and those who loved you, celebrated your birthday. Did you have big parties? Somehow I doubt that since you were such a private person. More than likely just you and a few close friends and loved ones had diner or something simple. I know how I would have wanted you and me to celebrate your birthday, George!

Older George, still so handsome and charming.

I am still struggling to master the new WordPress’ format, as well as Windows 8, and I apologize to you for not publishing a more elaborate birthday post for you. Never fear, I will get better. As with anything involving you I will obsessively strive for perfection!

My feelings about George

I have some new ideas for more posts, such as one discussing various of your movies, such as “The Strange Affair of Uncle Harry”.

Harry and Deborah in love…

Also I am interested in preparing a post about the various hats you wore in different movies,

George dressed preposterously in “Lloyds of London” (1936).Note the hat

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of being and ideal grace.
I love thee to the level of every day’s
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for right;
I love thee purely, as they turn from praise.
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood’s faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints. I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.

Well, there are no words sufficient to express the depression April brings. George you are so missed—more each year! I always wish that I could have known you and could have helped you to be happy.
A phrase from the song “All the Things You Are” tells us where you are now, George: “You are the angel glow that lights a star”. Actually, the lyrics of the song best expresses my feelings for you, George.

You are the promised kiss of springtime
That makes the lonely winter seem long
You are the breathless hush of evening
That trembles on the brink of a lovely song

You are the angel glow that lights a star
The dearest things I know are what you are
Some day my happy arms will hold you
And some day I’ll know that moment divine
When all the things you are, are mine.

There are many videos on YouTube with different people singing this song. I prefer Ella Fitzgerald, myself. I listen to her sing this while I am looking at a photo of you, George and I am transported to a different dimension!
There is nothing more to say during this saddest of months except “George, you are still in my heart, still much missed, and still much loved”

Well, before I start singing Tantalizing George’s praises I want to provide a link to a delightful youtube tribute to most Virile George. The photos are great and the song so wonderfully expresses one’s feelings for Glamorous George through all the years. As years go by Seductive George continues to fascinate.

This is a difficult post to write because I don’t think it can be as good as his last birthday post. How can one top Elegant George’s description of his arrival on this lucky Earth! I guess I will just ramble on in a sort of a “free association”.

I don’t have any information about what Charming George did on his birthdays, or if he even paid any attention to them. If anybody out there has some information I would love to hear it. I suspect if Delightful George were here to celebrate his birthday with us he would love to be out on his boat. I know you saw the very happy look on his face in the slideshow photos of a most captivating “Captain George”. I know I would love to be out on the water with him! That brings to mind the scene in “Appointment In Berlin” in which Handsome George looks so very happy as he steers the speedboat and Lucky Marguerite has the opportunity to fall against his side–what a thrill that must have been for her!

I saw on television the other night that the oldest man in the world had died at 116 years of age. The guy was nine years old when our George was born! Well, we know that Darling George was very unhappy the last years of his life so he never would have wanted to make it to 116.

Although Hunky George was born a tad earlier than I , we do have some similarities in our birthdays: George was born on a Tuesday at 6 am and I was born on a Tuesday at 5:30 am. As you know “Tuesday’s child is full of grace” and Suave George was definitely that.

As I have said MANY times before: there is not now, nor has there ever been, nor will there ever be a man as handsome, sexy, desirable, brilliant, witty, and talented as the inimitable, irreplaceable George Henry Sanders. The song “Unforgettable” as sung by Nat “King” Cole could have been written to describe Bewitching George. The lyrics are perfect for him. I would love to hear George sing “Unforgettable” with his beautiful voice. I probably would faint!

Well, one last bit of my musings. I have an article that George wrote for the April 1961 issue of Good Housekeeping magazine. The article is “There’s a Lot To Like About Women” and it is written in George’s usual witty, eloquent style. What struck me most about the article was the last sentence where George writes “After all, we live in a hard, cruel world, and the softest and most endearing thing to be found in it still remains a woman”. This should put to rest any thought that George was a woman hater. It is also revealing that he should refer to the world as “a hard, cruel world”.

I will end this post as I did George’s birthday post last year: I hope all of you will join me in toasting George with a dry vodka martini on his 107 Birthday on Wednesday, July 3rd! Cheers, George, and the “best of British luck” to you!
We love you and we miss you!

It is always so difficult to select which photos of Handsome George to put in the slideshow, they are all so beautiful. This slideshow is called “George Through the Years”. Sometimes older but always divinely handsome.

I know I repeat myself from last year, but his is just so appropriate.

The Burial of the Dead

April is the cruellest month, breeding

Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing

Memory and desire, stirring

Dull roots with spring rain…”

The Waste Land

T.S. Eliot

This too, is appropriate:

“Will you not come home, brother? you have been long away,
It’s April, and blossom time, and white is the spray;
And bright is the sun, brother, and warm is the rain, -­
Will you not come home, brother, home to us again?”

John Masefield, The West Wind.

For the religious among us there are these somewhat comforting words as drawn together at ChristianAnswers.net:

Resurrection of the dead

The resurrection of the dead will be simultaneous both of the just and the unjust (Dan. 12:2; John 5:28, 29; Rom. 2:6-16; 2 Thess. 1:6-10). The qualities of the resurrection body will be different from those of the body laid in the grave (1 Cor. 15:53, 54; Phil. 3:21); but its identity will nevertheless be preserved. It will still be the same body (1 Cor. 15:42-44) which rises again.

The nature of the resurrection body

1.It will be spiritual (1 Cor. 15:44), i.e., a body adapted to the use of the soul in its glorified state, and to all the conditions of the heavenly state. 2.glorious, incorruptible, and powerful (54) 3.like unto the glorified body of Christ (Phil. 3:21) 4.immortal (Rev. 21:4)

And two last bits of religiousity. This taken from the service for the Burial of the Dead in the 1928 “Book of Common Prayer” of the Episcopal church.

“O God, whose mercies cannot be numbered; Accept our prayers on behalf of the soul of thy servant departed, and grant him an entrance into the land of light and joy, in the fellowship of thy saints; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen”

This last is from the service for those buried at sea. Because George’s ashes were scattered in the English Channel I wanted to include this.

“Unto Almighty God we commend the soul of our brother departed, and we commit his [ashes] to the deep; in sure and certain hope of the Resurrection unto eternal life, through our Lord Jesus Christ; at whose coming in glorious majesty to judge the world, the sea shall give up her dead; and the corruptible bodies of those who sleep in him shall be changed, and made like unto his glorious body; according to the mighty working whereby he is able to subdue all things unto himself.”

For those amoung you who are not religious I hope the beauty of the language itself will bring some comfort.

The author writes about the suicide of her two brothers. The article is well worth reading. I am quoting from the last part of the article which sets forth a more hopeful outlook:

“Although April may be the cruelest month, it is also the month of renewal and rebirth, during which death is overcome and life returns. And here I circle round again to T.S. Eliot, who also said:

So the darkness shall be light, and the stillness the dancing. Whisper of running streams, and winter lightning. The wild thyme unseen and the wild strawberry, The laughter in the garden, echoed ecstasy Not lost, but requiring, pointing to the agony Of death and birth.

T.S. Eliot, Four Quartets, East Coker”

George, know always that we will continue to love you and to pray for you—and to miss you.

At long last here is the promised post to complete the discussion of Glamorous George as The Saint.

RKO released “The Saint in Palm Springs” in early 1941. Comely George had just begun to have his hair cut shorter and with a part on the right. It is SO short you can barely see his pretty curls! 😦 I believe this is the first movie Lovely George filmed after he introduced the “new look” of his hair because in the other films released in 1941 his hair was slightly longer. Check out Rage in Heaven, Man Hunt, Sundown, and The Gay Falcon and you will see. In Palm Springs if you look closely at Dazzling George (and who wouldn’t 😀 ) in some scenes you can see his cute little cowlick.

I was curious to see if Palm Springs really was the first Handsome George film released in 1941 so I checked the release dates for all the 1941 films and I AM correct. Palm Springs , which was filmed from 1 October 1940 to 11 November 1940, was released on 24 January 1941, Rage on 7 March 1941, Man Hunt on 13 June 1941, Gay Falcon on 24 October 1941, and Sundown on 31 October 1941.

In addition to the plot synopsis on the IMDb, to which I referred you in the link above, there is a very nice overview presented on theTurner Classic Movies database. Also, TCM has an article about Saint George and Palm Springs, presumably because the movie will be airing on TCM in December. Charteris described The Saint as being “imperturbable, debonair [and] preposterously handsome”. Certainly Stunningly Handsome George was made for the part because this description fits him perfectly–particularly the preposterously handsome part!

Wendy Barrie appears again as Alluring George’s love interest in this her third Saint movie. Lucky girl!! However, poor Wendy does not get a kiss in this movie but watch for the scene in which Seductive George, after he and Wendy have dinner, woos her on the patio. It is a yummy scene. See if you don’t agree with me.

We only see Inspector Fernack (Jonathan Hale) briefly at the beginning of the film when he explains to George how he needs The Saint’s help.(note that Fernack seems to have grown some new hair–no wait, he is wearing a hairpiece 🙂 ) It seems that Fernack’s old war buddy, Chris Johnson, from WWI, who had saved Fernack’s life, now needs Fernack’s assistance. Chris had used his personal fortune to purchase three very rare Guiana penny stamps and had his brother, Peter, smuggle them out of the country to bring to the United States and deliver to Chris’ daughter, Elna (played by Wendy), in California. Two attempts had been made on Peter’s life since his arrival in the US and Fernack wants The Saint to escort the Peter and the stamps to California to give to Elna. Saint George is reluctant until Fernack tells him about the murder attempts. Intrigued by the adventurous aspects of the situation, and smelling a whiff of danger, Intrepid George agrees to undertake the mission.

Good-Looking George arrives at Peter’s hotel room. After some discussion Peter goes to the bedroom safe to retrieve the stamps, leaving Pulchritudinous George sitting on the sofa in the living room. While getting the stamps Peter is shot to death and the villian enters through the window to be met by Corageous George. They engage in fisticuffs but the villian escapes. Fernack is called in and Fearless George leaves to deliver the stamps to Elna in Palm Springs.

In the scenes setting up the plot we get to see Dapper George in his new, white trench coat, in which he looks darling. I know it is new because I take careful note of coats that Fashionable George wears and this is the earliest movie in which he wears this particular coat. You also can tell that it is new because in the scene with Peter at the hotel George has a little difficulty removing the coat because it is somewhat tight, as new coats tend to be. We see this coat again in later movies such as Rage In Heaven, Appointment In Berlin , and Lured.

Paul Guilfoyle makes his second appearance as Pearly Gates. This time Pearly is the house detective at the Palm Springs hotel where George and Margaret Forbes, whose acquaintance Charming George cultivated on the train trip to Palm Springs– well, you know George’s fondness for lovely women– are staying. Margaret Forbes ( Linda Hayes) is actually an agent from the country from which the stamps were smuggled and is intent on getting them from Gorgeous George. The murderer of Peter is staying at the hotel with his gang and is also seeking the stamps. I won’t go into further details about the plot but will simply say that the stamps are stolen from George but, of course, he recovers them and delivers them to Elna, whose heart has been stolen by Enticing George. Naturally, she is left watching sadly as Sexy George rides out of her life.

Palm Springs is a fun movie to watch. It is such a pleasure to see George having a good time, riding a bike, riding a horse, and playing tennis. George soundly trounces Wendy on the tennis court, and SHE is a tennis teacher. Well, she was probably so mesmerized by Sinfully Handsome George that she was unable to watch the correct ball. 🙂 I sure would have been! George is gorgeous in his tennis outfit with that nice white t-shirt that shows clearly what glorious shoulders George has! And Statuesque George’s legs are so long that he just steps over the tennis net. What a Man!

Well, enough about The Saint. I wll be writing some posts about The Falcon series soon, but first I have some thoughts for two other, possibly shorter, posts. The restored version of Journey to Italy will be shown at the National Gallery of Art Theatre here in Washington on Saturday, October 13 and Sunday, October 14. Naturally I will be going to both showings. The movie was restored by L’Immagine ritrovata, Bologna , in collaboration with CSC—Cineteca Nazionale, Rome . I am hoping the restored version will be released on dvd in the near future. I have sent an email to a press officer at CSC—Cineteca Nazionale, Rome asking if they plan to do so.

Anyway, all this has inspired me to write a post discussing this movie and the first movie George made with Ingrid, Rage In Heaven , in 1941. The second post will be one about the movies featuring European George with the buzz cut.

It is difficult to believe that a whole year has gone by since I published a post to celebrate George’s 105th birthday. Ah well, time does fly when one is having fun and it is fun for me to have this blog to George. My goal is to try to present the real George to people instead of the caddish facade he presented to the public. George was a very private and a very vulnerable man and he sought shelter from the public eye within his cad facade. George was so very private and averse to publicity that he was married to his first wife for TWO years before the marriage was discovered.

George arrived in this world early on the morning of Tuesday, July 3, 1906 in St. Petersburg, Russia. This will be somewhat lengthy, but I want to give George’s account of his birth as, using rather British tongue in cheek humor, he describes it on the first page of his wonderful, well-written, and witty memoir, Memoirs of a Professional Cad (New York: Putnam, 1960).

“On July 3, 1906, the world was at peace. Nothing of any consequence seemed to be happening in the capital cities of any of its countries. Nothing disturbed the summer lethargy of its population. Everywhere people dozed contentedly, unaware that an event of major importance was taking place in St. Petersburg, Russia. At number 6 Petroffski Ostroff, to Margaret and Henry Sanders, a son of dazzling beauty and infinite charm was being born. It was I.

I emerged somewhat reluctantly from my mother’s womb at 6 o’clock in the morning. My father, who had been warned of the impending event only a short time prior to its occurrence, had rushed off to get the midwife who lived across the Neva on the Vassilsky Ostroff. He drove in a droshky to the Toochkoff Bridge, a wooden bascule, or drawbridge, which was opened sometimes in the summer to let the river traffic through. It was opening when he reached it. Alighting from the carriage and disregarding the warning cries of the boatmen, he leapt across the widening gap and ran the rest of the way to the midwife’s house. He brought her back across the river in a rowboat, and in a state of exhaustion, pushed her into my mother’s room, where she accomplished a successful delivery.”

I know we fans are all very thankful for the successful delivery! I hope all of you will join me in toasting George with a dry vodka martini on his 106 Birthday next Tuesday, July 3rd! Cheers, George, and the “best of British luck” to you!

The slide show is called “Some Happy George Photos, Plus a Few More” (Did your recognize Gene Tierney in the photo where she is dancing with George? She is 5’7″ and you know she must be wearing heels and George still dwarfs her! He is just so tall and magnificient!)

The other day I was reading a very entertaining book by Mark A. Vieira entitled Hollywood Horror:From Gothic To Cosmic (New York : Harry N. Abrams, 2003) when I came across some anecdotes about George which I want to share. The first incident recounted happened when George was hired in 1942 for the lead in a movie titled The Undying Monster. George went on suspension rather than “report for work…dressed as a gorilla” That certainly sounds like George. The second incident occurred during the filming of the 1945 film Hangover Square. The filming had been rocky because of the behavior of the other lead actor, Laird Cregar who was on a severe diet and taking medications which led to erratic behavior on his part. Then George decided to put in his oar and show his temperament. One of the producers, Robert Bassler, wanted George to say the line “He’s better off this way”. George, however, did not wish to say that line believing it to be inappropriate. This was causing a delay in filming a very expensive scene. According to Vieira, when Bassler found George sitting in a canvasback chair at the edge of the seat he confronted George and when George didn’t respond Bassler said “How dare you , you arrogant s** of a b****!” As Vieira puts it “Sanders blithely reached forward and punched Bassler, knocking him out”. How like George to do that! As far as I am concerned George had every right since the guy called him a nasty name. I’ll bet George used his famous right jab.(remember George was inter-scholastic heavyweight boxing champion in college)

I remember reading in some book about an occasion where George showed his temper in a passive-aggressive way. After his tremendous success in Lloyd’s of London and Lancer Spy George was extremely peeved when he was casted in a small part inMr. Moto’s Last Warning. He showed his ire by appearing for one of his scenes drunk. Naughty, naughty George! Another amusing anecdote concerns the following incident. George had asked the studio to paint and spruce up his dressing room. One of the studio head men came to George’s dressing room and said they would be glad to make the repairs if George would stop making disparaging remarks about the studio managers. George thought for a minute and then said “No, it isn’t worth it”. Typical George!

George occasionally acted up and he could give studio management and producers a hard time, but he was always generous with other actors. Although George always knew his lines perfectly and his delivery and timing were perfect, he was always patient with other actors who muffed lines or messed up their timing. He was never resentful when other actors caused retakes of a scene and he never tried to upstage other actors. If you watch George in movies when the other actors are peforming ( which I do, at NO time do I take my eyes off George) he never does anything to distract the audience from the other actor’s performance.

By the way, I don’t have any photos of George pulling “bad boy” antics behind the scenes, so for the slideshow I used photos of George being, haughty, supercillious, and just plain bad on the screen.